Existentialism In The Human Stain

Philip Roth is an outstanding, contemporary Jewish writer. TheHuman Stain which he wrote as the last work of American Trilogy, waspublished in2000. It vividly describes the real condition of Americansociety and reveals the ugliness of human beings, as well as the gloom oflife. Most critics have studied the novel from the ethic, moral and identityperspectives. Their criticisms focus on the paradox of human life with themoral dilemma, the social prejudice and the human stain. Relativelyinsufficient attention has been directed to existentialism in the critics’explorations into the underlying themes of this masterpiece by Roth. Onthe basis of the extensive research into available previous studies and theauthor’s understanding and interpretation of Sartre, the present thesismakes use of the concepts of existentialism, primarily alienation andfreedom, to explore the predicament of the major characters in the novel.The discussion reveals the wide-spread, deep-seated racial discrimination,the psychological destroy-ment of the Vietnam veterans and thehard-to-perceive alienation of women. The paper argues that these peopleare, no doubt, typical existential characters and the novel bears anundeniable existential theme. Hopefully this attempt will contribute itsshare to the fast growing Roth study in China.